Learning Processes and Personality Development in Deaf Children

Abstract

The study is an ongoing longitudinal investigation of a group of prelingually deaf children studied by direct observation in combination with videorecordings. The behavior of the children was registered once a month in their preschool and school settings, where activities were based on total communication, i.e., gestures, signs, fingerspelling, lipreading, reading, writing, and the stimulation of remnants of hearing. Our observations show that the use of signs does not impede the development of speech. Instead it seems to increase the children's skill in lipreading, although the early use of written language may play a part by facilitating the encoding of lipmovements. In children with hearing residuals, the use of signs enables them to better use their hearing.

The development of communication in blind and in deaf infants—similarities and differences

“…As soon as the parents receive infonnation that their infant is deaf or severely hearing impaired, they are nowadays recommend to use signs and natural gestures in communication. Meaning and understanding are looked upon as the most important aspects of interpersonal communication (Norden et al 1981), not the code used. The results of this change in attitude as well as of change in practice have proven to be positive.…”

“…The results of this change in attitude as well as of change in practice have proven to be positive. The deaf children can now communicate and interact with their parents, peers and teachers in a way that in many respect is similar to how hearing children interact in the same interactional contexts (Norden et al 1981;Preisler 1981Preisler , 1983Preisler , 1990b.…”

A psychosocial follow‐up study of deaf preschool children using cochlear implants

“…The hearing loss is seldom a serious obstacle to communication until the age when hearing children normally begin to talk. If habilitation of the deaf child focuses on the use of communicative signals that are suited to auditory perception and therefore difficult to interpret visually, mutual understanding is often impeded, and breakdowns in communication become the rule rather than the exception causing language development to stall (Nordén et al. 1981; Preisler 1983; Heiling 1995).…”

“…The idea that sign language could hinder the development of speech, which is still sometimes held, is by no means valid (Marshark 1993). Studies from the two last decades in particular, have clearly shown the positive effects of sign‐language learning in deaf children with respect to the children's communicative, socioemotional development as well as language learning in general and cognitive development (Nordén et al. 1981; Heiling 1995; Preisler & Ahlström 1997; Preisler 1999).…”